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At meetings this week, workers were asked to consider deep cuts six months before the contract with the operation‘s main union expires, sources say. The company, which is trying to keep the 62-year-old operation viable, is said to want an answer by early next week. Sources say cuts of about 12 per cent are being proposed, even though as recently as two years ago management described the mill‘s overall position as “cash-positive.” Similar cuts are being applied to non-union managers, sources say. Prices for northern bleached softwood kraft pulp are starting to come down after a peak of about US$880 per tonne. Steelworkers officials contacted Thursday said the situation is “sensitive” and declined to comment publicly. But sources say the union‘s executive has rejected the demands for cuts until it sees proof that the plant really needs concessions before it can afford to make required capital improvements. “What is this really about?” one official said Thursday. “Are we working together here?” Marathon Pulp management did not return phone calls. One long-time mill worker said he feels as though he‘s stuck between a rock and a hard place. “If I agree to a 12-per-cent cut and they close the mill six months from now, I‘ve lost 12 per cent off my wages and my severance,” said the worker, who asked not to be named. About 230 people work at Marathon Pulp, 70 fewer than when Kruger and Tembec purchased it from Fort James Corp. nearly 10 years ago for $100 million. The plant, which produces about 500 tonnes of pulp per day, is one of the world‘s smallest. The operation‘s current five-year collective agreement with the Steelworkers, the mill‘s main union, expires May 1. That contract included concessions and modest wage increases. Some workers said capital investment under the Tembec-Kruger joint venture has been limited. In August, Marathon Pulp earned a coveted Forest Stewardship Council certificate because of environmentally-friendly logging practices in one of the forests that supplies it with wood chips. The demand for contract concessions is becoming the norm at Northwestern Ontario‘s struggling wood and paper mills. In 2006, inside workers at Terrace Bay Pulp agreed to concessions said to have been required before Buchanan Forest Products would purchase the money-losing plant from Neenah Paper. That mill‘s former woodlands workers, who refused to take concessions, have been on strike for nearly three years. Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |